Taylor Kitsch talks about his key role in the new film based on GQ's story about the men who battled the 2013 Yarnell Hill wildfire.

When I first asked if I could get an interview with Only the Brave star Taylor Kitsch, he immediately volunteered to call me that afternoon—in the middle of his vacation in Yellowstone National Park. After driving around for a half hour, Kitsch finally found a spot in the park where he could get a cell phone signal—and all so we could chat about a movie that wouldn't even be out for another four months.

This unusual level of effort for a simple phone interview speaks to the unusual level of passion possessed by the cast and crew of Only the Brave. The film, which hits theaters on Friday, tells the harrowing true story of the Yarnell Hill Fire, which blazed through Arizona in June of 2013, and the heroism of the men who battled it. “It's a special one, man,” Kitsch told me back in July. “It's a really important story. We want to honor the legacy [the Granite Mountain Hotshots] built. And it couldn't be more relevant,” Kitsch said. As he pointed out, there were 180 separate wildfires raging on at the time, “and every year—because of climate change and a lot of other factors—it's happening more and more.”

With Only the Brave arriving in the midst of a a particularly devastating wildfire season in northern California, its story of heroism feels particularly timely. “My best friend is about to lose his cabin. Third generation,” Kitsch told me. “These [fire] seasons used to be six months, and now they're eight months.”

Kitsch came to the movie practically by chance, with basically no knowledge of the unique challenges posed by wildfires. “I actually met with [director Joseph Kosinski] maybe even a year earlier for a different project, a dark comedy he was developing,” says Kitsch. “And then this script came, and I read it. I had no idea what a hotshot was, or any part of that whole profession or culture.”

But Kitsch, along with the rest of the Only the Brave cast, got a quick education in the reality of life as a hotshot: everything from “water drops,” in which massive tanks of water are dropped on a wildfire with enough pressure to destroy a house, to “burnouts,” in which hotshots light controlled fires to interrupt a wildfire's “fuel supply” and limit the spread.

And then, of course, there was the process of shooting a movie in the midst of massive, actual fires. “I've worked with some pretty intense stuff—but 20- or 30- or 40-foot fires, that's no joke,” says Kitsch. “That gets hot, man. Real quick.”

To get the actors ready to credibly portray such a difficult and technical job, Joseph Kosinski sent them on an extended training trip. “We did a really great boot camp, and some of the hotshots who worked with the real guys were our leaders,” Kitsch told me. “They were awesome with us, and so patient. It was roughly 10 days. Sunup to sundown. We even all slept out one night, under the stars together. You're growing together because you're learning together. And something like this, that's bigger than all of us... You're already on the same page.”

One thing that immediately stands out about Only the Brave is the all-star cast assembled by Kosinski: Miles Teller, Josh Brolin, Jeff Bridges, Jennifer Connelly, and Kitsch, among others. At a time when it's harder and harder to get this kind of mid-range, adult-oriented drama produced in Hollywood, the participation of so many big-name actors was crucial. “You need to get these kinds of lineups, actor-wise, to get movies like this greenlit—and still, the budget wasn't crazy,” says Kitsch.

Kitsch plays Chris MacKenzie, a 30-year-old hotshot who had ten years of firefighting experience under his belt. (You can read more about MacKenzie and the Yarnell Hill wildfire in the GQ story “No Exit,” on which Only the Brave is based.) Like most of the men who battled the Yarnell Hill fire, MacKenzie died in the blaze. “To play someone who has passed... you know, I think that's the ultimate honor for an actor, to be asked to do something like that,” says Kitsch.

And as he crafted his performance, Kitsch had a valuable confidant: Brendan “Donut” McDonough, the real-life hotshot who worked alongside MacKenzie (played by Miles Teller in the film). “Having Donut to tell me—that was a huge part of it. People who worked with Mack, and partied with Mack, and hung out with Mack,” Kitsch says. “That's the best way to get any real information. Through the memories, and those good times they had together.”

You would be forgiven for thinking Taylor Kitsch is the ultimate all-American guy. In his most prominent acting roles, the native Canadian has played a Navy Seal (Lone Survivor), a California detective (True Detective), and a star football player (Friday Night Lights), all with a thread of homegrown panache. He's also, by his count, played at least six real people (including cult leader David Koresh, in the upcoming series Waco).

In his next film, Only the Brave, the actor combines all that accrued experience for one of his most daunting roles yet: firefighter Chris MacKenzie (“Mac,” as Kitsch calls him), a 30-year-old wildfire specialist who died in the devastating Yarnell Hill blaze that claimed the lives of 19 firefighters in 2013.

Based on a harrowing GQ article, Only the Brave, directed by Joseph Kosinski, paints a familial portrait of the 19 “hotshots”—firefighters who are specially trained to tame unforgiving wildfires—who died that day. Kitsch remembers hearing about the Yarnell Hill Fire when it happened, but never knew the full story until he got the script for this film.“I didn't even know what a hotshot was,” he tells Vanity Fair. “The beauty of this job is you get to really envelop yourself in these kind of beats.”

The film is told largely through the purview of Brendan McDonough (played by Miles Teller), a young ne'er-do-well who gets a chance to straighten up when superintendent Eric Marsh (played by Josh Brolin) lets him train with and join his firefighting division. While preparing for the film, McDonough and fellow trainers took the Only the Brave actors through hotshot training for two weeks. “Long hikes, 50-pound backpacks,” Kitsch recalls. “You're carrying the fuel and the chainsaws. It really is an artform to fight these fires.”

In real life, Mac and McDonough were roommates, constantly ribbing each other. He was one of the first people to give McDonough the nickname “Donut.”

To prep for the film, Kitsch would pepper McDonough with questions and pore over Mac's old Instagram account. “There's times when McDonough's passed out on his rug and Mac would take an intimate photo and post it and just rip it,” Kitsch says. Through his research, he also learned that Mac was a talented surfer and snowboarder, and companies would often send him shoes, a detail that slyly makes its way into the film. “That was just one thing that I loved to hang my hat on,” the actor says.

Kitsch also met with Mac's family on set, later going to dinner with his father, who's been “a rock star through this whole thing.”

While shooting in Santa Fe, the actor also built a special bond with his co-stars. They first met for a table read (“I don't know what actor likes table reads,” Kitsch quips), then went into hotshot training, where Brolin immediately took up a leadership position. “He was just an enormous influence,” Kitsch says of the actor. “We really bonded on this.”

Kitsch, who just shot in Santa Fe for Waco, says the actors would often go into town to drink, play pool, or go bowling. “I knew the city well and it's obviously an older demographic, so you hold on to each other,” he says. Co-star Miles Teller would organize basketball games a couple times a week to blow off some steam (“He's really good,” Kitsch promises). The actors also have a group text that's still going strong months after the film has wrapped, where they swap jokes and share family photos. “Not a birthday's missed,” Kitsch adds.

Which raises the most important question of all—does tough-guy Josh Brolin use emojis?

“Everyone texts emojis,” Kitsch says. “You can't say no to emojis. I was a big fan of the boxing gloves for a bit. I'm all over the map. Gotta keep 'em on their toes. ”